Lineman&#39;s tool.



"ATENT OFFICE.

,sopoluon nson, onBos'roN, MASSACHUSETTS.

LINEllIANS TOOL.

Application filed September 9, 1916.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that;I,.SoL oMo1-r E. AAR N, a.citizenof the United States, residing at Boston, in the county of Suffolk ,and State of Massachusetts, have invented. certain new and Luseful Improvements .in Linemens rTools and I do hereby declare the following to be a full,..clear, and. exact ClBSCIlpUOfl of the invention such as will enable others skilled in' the art tojwhich it appertains to make and .use athe same.

This invention relates. to tools, and more especially to wire strippers; .and. the object of the same istolproduc a Iineinans tool of the 'plier type *and including a .pair of pincers, the tool also. emhracing a.,pair of cutter blades,.a..pair of stripperblades, and a painof splitter blades, although 1n some cases the last-named; pair may be omitted as when the tQOLQiSw fOI' use on. single strand wire. Whatever the work beingdo'n by t linemanor, electrician, almost invariably he needs pmceraandtherefore this improved ,device is. in ,etfecta. combination tool of the .plier type embodying, in its makeup a, pair of pincers, hut gto this extentno novelty is claimed further than that the contact of the pincer-faces prevents unduecontact of; the cutting edges, of the hladesumvhich .would tend to dull them. {Provision is made in the present instance for free need the incers at the end and on .one side ,of the tool, and in order thatany. pair of bladesmay beulsed on a straight stretch of,,wire.;without the latter passingthrough the other pairs of blades, all pairs are. placed, out of alinement with each other as will be explained.

Finally, in order to reduce the cost of manufecture as far as possible, theimprovement consists in the. attachment of two specially sha ed arms to what .might tbe called, an ordinary .pair of pincers having .eoacting cutting bladeson one of the side faces. etails are set forth in the following specification. reference being had to the drawings wh rein:

Figure 1 is a left side elevation of this tool complete. showing it held slightly open by means of a set screw through one of its handles: Fig. 2is a plan, view thereof, and Fig. 3 is a front end elevation with the jaws closed.

F g. 4 is a cross section on the line 4l of FlQ. 2 through the splitters. showing in dotted lines var ous wires to which refer ence will be made hereinafter.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Feb. 25,1918. Serial No. 119,238.

Fig. 5 is a perspective detail ofone arm including the splitter blade and the stripper blade; and Fig. 6 is a similar perspective detail excepting that the splitter b ladeis omitted.

The p e ar m e-up. lift-W memb rs having handles H at their innerends, the members crossing each other and pivoted togetherat P where they cross, and jaws J at their front, ends whose f aces, constitute a pair of pincers and meet e'ach 0t er when the pliers are closed wi h nothing, in .Betw n s e t n waan th rive P the jaws are recessed a nsver sely as at EB, and acrossoneend of t e recess the 'svs carry vcutter blades C. ,whose ,coacting e ges r y mee w e h p uce iiaee i s e g' other. -;These ,cu t ers may ell he formed integjml with thejaws an d v,;li,e subsfiad tially fiush with the rea e thereof or may Pr ts t i hemvi thw aeep ti 6 almpl mentaat ea n Eig-fl- Fe prew r in: the i w if qm eems qem l b t .e th n an nc t -reev lua in t a se rt bebma i ie ma anism issu irle e ashes h e east s resa e through one handle H .vy t isi tip adapted 10 engage, the, other. H pojetv' iscl i m d for the parts thus. far despribeth as the .vice up to this pain is a pli er type I of wi ce w th setter-bla es. en e o it aws and a set screw Jnrea rof the pivot for .adjustin the extent to wh hh the jaw fTQts or the blades can be brought toqether. WhjIe I, prefer to manufacture allpartsof th s, tool. .it might be. possible to purchase the implement constructed as thus far de s iherha d adapt a d a filv, o it the, detailsj ofimprovement wh q follow.

Mounted upon the u per, ja audbfnea ,the l wer jaw are upper,and lowerarmsor numbers which are complementary to each other. and the upper of, wl{ ph is show'i in .rlcta il in R g. 5 andni njsightlv m dffied form in Fig. 6. For mounting ea h of these mcmbers -I preferahlv pr vide the outer- ..most face of the jaw wit a transverse grooveil. a d the sha k Q of he a m lies the ein and has a long tudinal slot 3 through which passes a 3% screw 4 whose tip r ng" 20s the Jaw. so that the arm mav be adjusted in its slot as will be d scr bed below; howex'er, am other form of attachment and adjustinent miLht be employed. or he arm m ght be rigidlv or perhaps integrallv attarhed to the jaw if adjustment were not desired. The

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arm may stand at a point about midway between the recess R and pivot P, center to center, and its shank and body are about an inch long over all. Its body continues outward laterally from the shank, and the rear edge of said body is turned downward into a lip G. (I am describing the upper member seen in Fig. 5, but the lip of the lower member will be turned upward from its body as will be understood.) The lip is carried downward and preferably deflected slightly forward, until it reaches a point about opposite the upright center of the recess R, where it is deflected slightly to the rear or toward the pivot as at 7, its forward or under side being beveled as at 8 so as L0 produce a rather sharp working edge; and in the coacting working edges of the two lips are cut registering notches 9 and 1 as best seen in Fig. 3. The inner edges of said lips 6 are slightly curved as seen at 11 and stand some distance from the adjacent side faces of the jaws, with the result that there is quite an opening between the lips and jaws, which opening serves as a guide when the splitters are used as described below and as shown in Fig. 5. The size and shape of parts is such that when the jaw faces come together the working faces of the lips also just meeteach other, but when the set screw S is adjusted inward these workin faces'are held slightly spaced when the pier jaws move toward each other, and therefore the openings through theregistering notches are larger.

Thus is produced a stripper for the use of the electrician. and lineman. It is obvious that when a wire is to be stripped of its insulation, the implement is laid'alongside the wire and opened, the. wire passed between the coacting edges of the blades or lips 6, the set screw properly adjusted according to the size of the wire itself, and the handles pressed together as far as the screw will permit. This closes the active edges on the wire, and pressure causes them to cut through the insulation. Then by holding the wire in one hand and revolving the implement slightly to and fro, the insulation is circled or out without injury to the wire; and. thereafter by pulling the instrument sharply toward the user, the severed insulation is stripped off the wire in a manner which will be clear. I prefer to employ two notches 9 and 10 of different sizes so that wires of different gage can be treated with or without the use of the set screw, but very small wires would pass through the registering notches when the tool is completely closed because the contact of the pincer faces serves also as a stop. In a simple form of my improvement, the pliers would be provided only with these strippers, and it might be ossible to have only a single pair of notches in their cutting edges.

Care should be taken in mounting the arms or members on the jaws, that the lips 6 stand opposite the rear end of the recess R as seen in Fig. l; and they might be disposed nearer the pivot'than there shown, though I would never have them farther forward than illustrated. This disposition of the strippers is made in order that a wire may be laid transversely across the tool and passed between its jaws and between its outter blades C, without interfering with the strippers. Obviously the latter may be used on a. wire alongside the tool without interfering with the cutters. Therefore the co acting edges of these two sets of blades are out of alinemcnt with each other.

In the preferred or most complete form of my improved tool, the front edge of the body 5 of each arm or member is carried forward as M15 and the lateral outer side of this forwardly projectin portion bent downward into a lip on bla e16, its lower end or active edge being rounded and sharpened as at 18; and the active edges'of the two lips are so disposed that they barely contact with each other when the implement is closed asseen in Fig.3. Their disposition also is such that they stand opposite the front of the recess R'so as not to interfere with a wire being cut a sabove explained. Also, as best seenin Fig.3,'these lips'or blades 16 are so disposed that theystand about midway between'th'e'side face of'the pliers an'd'the inner edges 11 0f thest'rip'p'er blades 6, and hence they would not interferiwith alstretch ofwire whose insulation is being stripped. These blades are preferably formed integral with the arms or members, and if the shanks 2 ofthe latter are adjustable by the means described above the blades will necessarily be adjusted outward from or inward toward the sideface of the pliers.

Thus is produced a splitter for the use of the lineman handling twin wire cables whose outer covering it isdesired tojsplit and remove before the insulation on the indi vidual strands is stripped off, By opening the pliers wide, such a cable may be passed completely between the active edges of the stripper blades and the active'edges of the splitter blades 16, and laidagai'nst the side of the tool along which it is to be guided. Then'by closing the handles the active edges of the splitter blades are passed through the exterior insulation or covering, while the stripper blades are brought toward each other and their inner edges 11 form the outer guide for the cable. Meanwhile the set screw S may be set up to prevent the split tors from cutting too deeply. the same as ii is used in connection with the strippers. Flnally by holding the cable in one hand and drawing the implement toward the user. the splitters are caused to sever the outer covering between the insulated wire strands,

while the face of the pliers and the inner edges 11 ofthe strippersguidethe cable in a manner which will be clear. Here also the pliers are out of line with the strippers, so that neither interferes with a wire passing through the other pair, and both pairs are transversel out of line with the cutting blades for he same reason.

It will be observed from Fig. 2 that the strippers.andsplitters are all offset to one side of thc'jziws,' tlie former to a different degree than the latte1','wliereas the cutters are on the other side of the tool and substantially flush with its face so as to leave nothing projecting. Therefore the pliers may be used on this side as an ordinary pair of pincers, or an article can be passed transversely between the pincer faces and grasped thereby as usual, because both the stripper and splitter blades are disposed out of ahnement with the working faces of said jaws. In other words all the coacting faces or edges of the several pairs of members pincers, cutters, strippers and splitters-are out of alinement with all others so that any pair can work on a straight wire without its bein injured by another pair. Thus is produce a combination tool which includes everything necessary for the lineman and electrician and which when once in hand need not be laid down in order that he may pick up some other implement to handle a wire or make a connection.

What I claim is:

1. An implement comprising pincers of plier type whose jaws are recessed between their meeting faces and the pivot, cutter blades carried by one side of the jaws in line with said recess, and transversely adjustable arms mounted respectively on the jaws and carrying duplicate opposing blades standing beyond that side of the jaws opposite to the cutters and coacting on a line between the pivot and recess.

2. A wire stripper comprising two members crossing and pivoted to each other and continued into jaws whose outermost faces are transversely grooved, means for limiting the approach of such jaws to each other, a pair of arms whose shanks rest in said grooves and are slotted and whose bodies extend to one side of the jaws and are turned toward each other into lips, the coacting edges of said lips having registering notches, and set screws through said slots into the jaws.

3. A wire stripping tool comprising two members pivoted to each other and continued into jaws, an adjustable stop for limiting the approach of such jaws to each other, and a pair of guide arms secured to the trlll l'llltrt tat-es of said jaws extending lat orally beyond one side of the same. and earning stripper blades bent toward each other and spaced from the adjacent faces of the jaws whose active edges coact on a line transverse to the len 11 of the tool and between its front end an its pivot.

4. Improved pliers comprising a pair of pivoted aws, and insulation-splitting blades '5 and stripping blades mounted on the opposed jaws and so disposed as to leave an opening adjacent to the jaws for the reception of material to be stripped, the splitting blade alining with the openin 5. In a linenians tool, the comfiination with a pair of pliers; of arms secured to the jaws thereof forward of the pivot, projecting to one side, and turned toward each other into a pair of lips coacting on a line parallel with the length of the tool and constituting splitters, and into a second pair of lips more remote from the side of the tool and constituting an outer guide for the splitters.

6. In a linemans tool, the combination with a pair of pliers; of arms secured to the jaws thereof, projecting to one side, and turned toward each other into a pair of lips coacting on a line parallel with the length of the tool and constituting splitters, and into a second pair of lips more remote from the side of the tool and notched on their meeting edges so as to constitute strippers.

7. In a linemans tool, the combination with a pair of pliers; of arms secured to the jaws thereof, projecting to one side, and turned toward each other into a pair of lips constituting splitters, and into a second pair of lips more remote from the side of the tool and constituting an outer guide for the splitters, .the active edges of the last-named lips also constituting strippers.

8. In a linemans tool, the combination with a pair of pliers; of arms secured to the jaws thereof and projecting to one side, a pair of splitter blades carried by the arms and coacting on a line parallel with the length of the tool, and a pair of stripper blades also carried by the arms and co-acting on a line transverse to the len h of the tool and more remote from the ]!1WS'tl1t1I1 said splitter blades, each line of coaction being out of alinement with the other.

9. An implement comprising a pair of pliers, a pair of stripper blades opposed to each other on the respective jaws of the pliers and standing transversely to the jaws, the inner edges of the blades being spaced from the proximate side of the jaws to provide a passageway for wire, and a pair of opposed cutters alined with the opening to cut the insulation of wire drawn through the opening.

10. An implement comprising a pair of pliers, a pair of stripper blades opposed to each other on the respective jaws of the pliers and standing transversely to the jaws, the inner edges of the blades being spaced from the proximate side of the jaws to provide a passageway for wire, and a pair of opposed cutters alinedwith the'opening to cut the insulation of wire drawn throu" h the openin the cutter and blade on eac jaw being integrally connected,

11. An implement comprising pincers of plier type whose jaws are recessed between their meeting faces and the pivot, cutter blades carried by one side of the jaws in line with said recess, and arms mounted respectively on the jaws and carryin stripper blades and splitter blades Offset eyond the other side of the jaws to different degrees with their active edges out of alinement with each other or with said recess on the pincer faces.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

SOLOMON EDWARD AARON.

Witnesses:

Jomi F. ZEBLEY, JULIA Four.

Copies of this patent may be obtained (or live cents each. by addressing the "Commissioner of Patents,

' Washlnxton, D. C." i 

